A high-severity heap buffer out-of-bounds read flaw in the Avira Antivirus engine permits local code execution or service disruption via malformed PDF files.

This is a heap buffer out-of-bounds read (CWE-125) occurring during the scanning of a malformed PDF. An attacker can exploit this to crash the antivirus engine process or execute arbitrary code locally on the system.

With a CVSS score of 7.8, this vulnerability poses a substantial risk to endpoint security. By targeting the security software directly, an attacker can neutralize defenses or gain elevated access to the system. The impact extends to both business continuity, through service disruption, and system integrity, through potential unauthorized code execution.

Immediate Action: Update the Avira scan engine to build 8.3.70.56 or later immediately.

Proactive Monitoring: Monitor endpoint performance and antivirus service status for unexpected terminations or recurring crashes during file scanning.

Compensating Controls: Use file-type filtering and restrict the execution of untrusted PDF files until the antivirus engine is confirmed to be patched.

Public Exploit Available: false

Organizations should treat this vulnerability as an urgent priority. Because the flaw resides within a core security component, it is essential to verify that the automated update mechanism for the Avira scan engine has successfully reached the minimum required version across all endpoints.